In many standard internal combustion engine designs, fuel is mixed with air in a carburetor prior to introduction into a combustion cylinder. A carburetor introduces a pre-determined amount of fuel into the air flow, according to the power demand of the engine. In typical carburetor designs, fuel is released as a spray into the intake air from a fuel jet nozzle.
It is preferable in order to achieve maximum combustion efficiency and evenly balanced use of all engine cylinders that the fuel spray in the air flow be as atomized and as fine as possible. The standard carburetor designs attempt to achieve this characteristic by relying on the difference between the air and fuel pressures and velocities at the spray nozzle. Some fuel is vaporized as it is sprayed into the air flow. Additional fuel is vaporized while the fuel/air intake combination flows to the engine cylinders, but in many circumstances vaporization is not complete. Accordingly, maximum fuel efficiency and evenly balanced cylinder use are not achieved.
Furthermore. in many internal combustion engines, multi-cylinder (such as 6 or 8 cylinders) designs are often used. For example, in well known designs, the cylinders may be arranged in V-6, V-8, or in-line 6 configurations. In such designs if a single carburetor is used (as is often the case), it cannot be situated identically with respect to each cylinder. For instance, in a V-8 engine the carburetor is located at a mid-point between the two rows of cylinders. In such a position, the carburetor is located closer to the middle cylinders in each row than to the end cylinders of each row. When the air/fuel mixture containing the incompletely vaporized fuel is drawn into the engine, more fuel will enter the middle cylinders than will enter the end cylinders. Accordingly, the operation of the end cylinders is different in comparison to the middle cylinders, resulting in decreased engine performance. The mixture supplied to the end cylinders may be too lean, while the mixture supplied to the middle cylinders may be too rich. The engine acceleration is not maximized. The optimum power for a particular amount of fuel used is not extracted from any cylinders, or thus from the engine. Combustion efficiency is decreased, resulting in higher exhaust emissions, poor engine efficiency, decreased exhaust system life time, poor gas mileage, and increased maintenance requirements and costs.
It would therefore be advantageous to provide a carburetor which would vaporize as much of the gasoline being used as possible in the carburetor itself. Thereafter, an air/fuel mixture would essentially be totally gaseous. In such a form, the air/fuel mixture would be directed more or less evenly to each of the cylinders. The cylinders would therefore operate and wear more or less evenly. The maximum amount of power would be extracted from a given amount of fuel. Furthermore, clean burning would be maximized, resulting in improved engine efficiency or gas mileage, decreased exhaust emissions, improved exhaust sytem life time, and decreased maintenace requirements and costs.
Another problem is created by the movement of the vehicle, causing fuel starvation of the cylinders ahead of the carburetor, and over supply of fuel to the cylinders to the rear.
This results from the fact that the air stream and entrained fuel are required to flow from the carburetor into an intake manifold.
The manifold is aligned along the axis of movement of the vehicle. Consequently the concentration of fuel droplets in the air/fuel flow will tend to be reduced, in the forward direction, and increased in the rearward direction. This phenomenon also occurs in the barrel of the carburetor. Fuel droplets will tend to be deflected to the rearward portion of the barrel, even as they are ejected from the carburetor jets.